On Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. we once again invite you to attend our Liturgy of the Word service on Zoom. Please register here. Eleanor Rabnett offers the reflection for Ascension Sunday in video format, as well as in full-text version here: Ascension Sunday May 15, 16 2021. In her reflection. Eleanor shares:
“Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds us how we have been called to live and maintain a new relationship of peace; by invoking the qualities of deep humility, gentleness, enduring patience, and love. He speaks of the unity of the Christian community with Christ as the head and the Church as the body. One God, one faith, one baptism. Different gifts are given to different people; some are to be apostles, prophets, preachers, pastors, teachers, parents just to name a few: all to build up the Body of Christ. All to serve God, the Church and each other.”
Liturgical Resources
- Ascension of the Lord – May 16 2021 – Liturgy of the Word for use at home
- READINGS FOR THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD – 2021
- READINGS FOR CHILDREN – Ascension of the Lord
- Ascension of the Lord – 2021 – Prayers of the Faithful
- Message from Pope Francis – World Communications Day 2021
Organ Music Performed by Tom Fagan
Parish Update:
Breakfast & snack boxes available to families in our parish
On Monday, May 17, the Parish will receive a shipment of 80 breakfast and snack boxes through our partnership with the Ottawa Network for Education. Families with school age children are welcome to contact the Parish front office to receive a free box of healthy snacks and breakfast items, including apple sauce, cereal, oatmeal, granola bars, fruit compote and shelf-stable milk.
Welcoming the Supper Table’s new Community Engagement Coordinator
Thanks to grant funding, we’re pleased to welcome Hannah Janzen to the Supper Table’s staff team. Hannah will serve as the Supper Table’s first-ever Sustainability and Community Engagement Coordinator. She will work with Ryan Mitchell, the Supper Table Manager, in coordinating the summer students who will assist in the Supper Table’s meal service and Food Bank during the coming weeks and months.
Register for in-person weekday Masses
In addition to our Zoom Liturgy of the Word on Sundays at 10:30 a.m., during the period of the Provincial stay-at-home order, Mass is offered on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for a total of 10 people only at each celebration. If you would like to attend these in-person weekday liturgies, please register here. Space is very limited.
An Appeal from Development & Peace
In India, a terrible new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is infecting over 300,000 people and killing more than 3,500 every day. To help Caritas India cope with this emergency, Development and Peace has committed an initial sum of $50,000.
Given that much of the Indian subcontinent is vulnerable to this crisis, much more help will be needed.
Caritas India’s executive director, Fr. Paul Moonjely, has appealed to “the community of [the] faithful, institutions and people of goodwill to contribute generously.” Let’s respond with open hearts!
Learn more here – https://www.devp.org/en/articles/covid-19-india-urgent-appeal-apocalyptic-time
Donate to Development and Peace’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund at – https://www.devp.org/en/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=3&gl=24300
News from OMRA
OMRA has been a part of the St Joe’s community since being welcomed by the Refugee Outreach Committee in December 2017. We began selling grocery cards at St Joes in Jan 2018. Over 80 parishioners have supported OMRA at St Joe’s. Thirty-five households have committed to purchasing grocery cards every month. Others prefer to purchase cards from time to time. We are grateful for your support! All monies raised selling cards goes to rental subsidies for refugee families. OMRA is a not-for-profit currently seeking charitable status. We have no employees. We are all volunteers.
Currently OMRA provides monthly rental subsidies to 25 refugee families in Ottawa.
Your support makes this possible. You can do this in several ways.
- Become part of the monthly OMRA grocery card program. Purchase grocery cards for Loblaws/Independent ($50 or $100), Metro/Food Basics ($50 or $100), Farm Boy ($50) or Shoppers Drug Mart ($50). You have the full amount of the card to make your purchases. The stores give OMRA 5% of the card value which we use to provide monthly rental subsidies to refugee families in Ottawa. Order your cards through Donna Rietschlin at dbrietschlin@hotmail.com or 613-720-0438. Pay by cheque or etransfer to omrasheltercorp@gmail.com.
- Make a tax-deductible donation by e-transfer through the Ottawa Mennonite Church – donate@ottawamennonite.cato help OMRA increase the number of rent subsidies we can provide. Note that the donation is for OMRA rental subsidies when you do the etransfer.
Thank you so much for all the support you give OMRA to enable us to offer rental subsidies to refugees in Ottawa. Please keep all refugees around the world in your prayers. According to the data at the United Nations High Commission on Refugees 1% of the world’s population have fled their homes.
Contact Donna Rietschlin at donnarietschlin@hotmail.com or 613-720-0438 for more information about OMRA or to order cards. Cards ordered by May 31st should be ready for pickup or delivery by June 12th or 13th.
Check out OMRA’s website: www.omraottawa.org
Sunday Offerings for May 9, 2021: $4,118.
Thank you for your generosity. We are grateful for your support during the pandemic, especially as our expenses continue. If you would like to continue giving in this period, you can mail in your offering envelopes/cheques to the parish front office, donate through Canada Helps or call us at 613-233-4095, ext. 251 to donate through credit card.
Virtual Children’s Liturgy of the Word over Zoom:
Each Sunday at 9:30AM we are hosting a Liturgy of the Word for families and children virtually over Zoom. If you would like to join us be sure to send an email to Andrew (apump@st-josephs.ca) and he will send you the Zoom information. Although a Children’s Liturgy with accompanying children’s readings, it is also a great chance to connect for everyone in our community that hasn’t been able to come back to Church yet. So don’t be shy: All Are Welcome.
Lectio Divina over Zoom each Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Lectio Divina is a reflective exercise centered around the reading of scripture. We will be meeting virtually over Zoom to reflect on the Sunday’s Gospel and share with each other our insights and what the scriptures are calling us to look at in our lives and where they are leading us. Please join us by using the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2906781332?pwd=VWUvMUtXVlFzUjlSME9velZHRWcrZz09
Friday evening meditation continues
During this latest lockdown join us each Friday evening at 7PM on Zoom. Use this link.
Continuing his catechesis on Christian prayer during the weekly General Audience, Pope Francis explains the importance of meditation, highlighting that it is a means of prayer that helps us encounter Jesus and find ourselves…. Read all: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-04/pope-francis-general-audience-meditation-prayer.html
Laudato Si’ Week
Celebrating the end of the Special Laudato Si’ 5th Anniversary Year, Pope Francis invites the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics to joyfully participate in Laudato Si’ Week 2021, to be held from May 16-25 under the banner of: “For we know that things can change”. See https://laudatosiweek.org/ to sign up for a whole slate of free on-line activities, webinars, etc., including: May 17 at 1 p.m., Critical Opportunities in 2021 to create change: call for an integral path; May 18 at 8 a.m., Dialogue on Education; May 19 at 9 a.m., Dialogue on Energy and Fossil Fuels; May 20 at 9 a.m., Sowing Hope for the planet – Creation Care Payer Network, and many others. In addition, every day at 7 a.m., Laudato Si’ Week will broadcast a live show to highlight how Laudato Si’ has inspired Catholics around the world.
We DO know that things can change.
Webinar with Michael Czerny SJ on “Everyone and Everything Connected: Pope Francis’s Vision of Our World“:
Building on Pope Francis’s two encyclicals, Laudato Si’ and Fratelli Tutti, Cardinal Czerny invites us to consider what they have to say to us as parishes, to the Church in Canada and beyond. May 30, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. To join webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86706036501?pwd=M3JSNktnLzlSR0lPNGw5YkoxTGg2dz09. Passcode: 535413. Free. Info: St. Basil’s Parish 613-729-5149; stbasilsparish@gmail.com.
